LONDON: As a new order takes shape in Afghanistan after the collapse of the Taliban regime, the fall-out of Sept 11 has also shifted the balance of global politics, experts say. Some talk optimistically of a new world order, drawing on the unprecedented anti-terrorist coalition in the wake of the suicide plane attacks in New York and Washington.

Others are more cautious. But all acknowledge that the traditional pattern of alliances and enmities has changed, possibly for good. They point to the Middle East, to Washington having to become more engaged with the outside world, to nations forced to agree that terrorism is a common enemy.

“This is the proper new world order, not what we had in 1991” after the end of the Gulf War, said Anoush Ehteshami, head of the Institute for Middle East and Islamic Studies at Durham University, northeast England.

“It is a more self-conscious world order,” he said. “All the questions about a regional balance of power, about responsibility to the world community, these are all now being readily asked where they were not asked before.”

Experts cite greater cooperation on police and banking, a new link between fighting terrorism and economic aid and UN consensus on Afghanistan. Donald Cameron Watt, a professor of international relations, said it was “a further stage” on from the 1989 collapse of the Berlin Wall which effectively signalled the end of the Cold War. The biggest beneficiary is President Pervez Musharraf. Last year, President George W. Bush could not even remember his name. Now he is the West’s new best friend after cutting links with the Taliban, braving the wrath of Islamic radicals.

Relations between Moscow and the West have warmed too. President Vladimir Putin was a relaxed guest at Bush’s Texas ranch last week. Britain, claims a new dialogue has been opened with the likes of Syria and Iran, both listed by the United States as sponsors of terror. China has been providing intelligence on terror groups, and Beijing has not blocked action against Afghanistan, nor ruled out a peacekeeping role.

Cameron Watt said that the sheer scale of Sept 11 ”panicked” leaders, who realized their own interests, trade, money markets, were also at stake. The new mood is also benefiting the Middle East, Ehteshami said, where the resolve to find a solution “is certainly not a passing phase. Its Arab allies are going to hold the US to broker a settlement. The US really cannot afford to ignore the world it finds itself in and the Bush administration is beginning to realize this.”—AFP